This morning, I woke up at 11.45 – a full three hours and forty-five minutes after I had intended. On top of all that, it was pouring outside and whenever it’s raining, I never want to leave my bed, let alone the apartment. I think I realized it was a mistake that I didn’t make all of my negatives the night before, because at 11.45, I was panicking to get everything together so I could go to the Main building and print my cyanotypes. Talk about being unprepared. Half way through the printing of the negatives, I had the realization that I didn’t necessarily have to go. It’s so dangerous for me to realize that I’m not obligated to be anywhere. All of my willpower just flies out the window. After a marathon two days in the Dolphing building screenprinting and as a result, lowering my life expectancy…I figure I could use the break. Of course, I still have to make up for the lost work. I can’t ever let myself relax (haha, that would be too easy). So I decided that I would spend the day working on all of my negatives for Alternative Process and cut paper/print negatives for my Letterpress final too. Way to rationalize a potentially procrastinatory decision (I gave myself a pat on the back after that one)! Ususally, when I have such delusions of grandeur, they blow up in my face, but today has been relatively calm. I’m still printing negatives, though I did take a break for a trip to Office Depot (needed more ink jet transparencies and another black ink cartridge). And now, while I’m waiting for things to print, I’m going to post some pictures of the screenprinting that I did this weekend.

The red print, in a more finished state, though far from being done. I plan on doing another layer of scribbly shading on the mountain shapes before I throw the halftone on there. I’m a little nervous about what Nick is going to think about the halftones and their hard edges. He really hit the nail on the head when he said that it’s unlike me to have it there. I’m actually surprised that he said that because he hasn’t known me for very long and isn’t too familiar with my artwork to know that it’s a…pet peeve? of mine to have hard edged elements in my work. Is it that obvious? Anyway, it’s going to be a nice change (maybe) and if it’s not, then at least I tried it.

The blue print (haha, get it? I couldn’t resist) and it’s first five layers. I got really excited about doing a print that’s darker in color than all of the others. I don’t know why, it’s pretty dorky of me to even say that. But the shading on the mountain shapes! It’s blue! And it’s so…awesome and subtle. I had no idea it was going to look good at all, I never plan these things. But it does and, man, am I happy I did that. Then I had to go and fuck it all up with the halftone. I can’t completely blame my gunky screen, though that was part of it. Part of the reason why it’s so poorly done is because I didn’t dilute my ink enough. I can never tell with white how opaque it is, and I probably put a little too much in there. Granted, I did want it to be opaque enough to cover the mountain parts…a little more extender base wouldn’t have hurt. Anyways, the mistake is easily solved. I had intentions of drawing over this halftone image from the beginning. The image is pretty poor quality, so the halftone didn’t have as much detail as all of the others. Not a bad fix, if I do say so myself.

Check out the bad ass subtlety! And the corner of the halftone. I really like the white on top of the blue.

I had this thought about layering all sorts of crazy things at the bottom of this print when I was in Dolphin and couldn’t get out of there fast enough to go and put that plan into action. The yellow/white blob at the bottom is bleached out from the cyanotype itself, using ordinary powder laundry detergent and water. It’s really tricky to do with the screenprinting already on the paper, so next time around, all the bleaching is going to happen before I print. Last time I bleached a cyanotype, I had part of the print in my sink, dampened, and then I sprinkled the detergent on the damp parts. You get a lot better control that way – whenever you want it to stop bleaching, turn the faucet on and wash off all the detergent (quickly!). A brush and water don’t really cut it.

I finished my piece for the TAC Gallery 5×5 show not too long ago –

Finished canvas, unglazed at this point.

My hand, after finishing my 5×5 canvas. I often use my fingers to blend colors. Another reason why I like acrylic more – less dangerous!

Glazed. I like the soft quality it gives the colors.

A part of my Alternative Process final:

These are all images that I took a few years ago when I was in Southwestern Oklahoma for OSAI. They’re shot B&W, but I’ve never actually printed any of them, so this is my first time seeing these images at this scale. Quite a bit of the detail has been lost by the cyanotype process, but I’m okay with that because it makes it feel vintage and almost like it belongs in another world.

There are some things I might change when/if I reprint some of these. The second image in particular is giving me a little bit a trouble. I keep going back and forth over whether or not I should keep the streaky mess at the bottom (a mistake in coating). I really enjoy the way it looks and I’ve never really been one to nit-pick over things like that (I am an imperfectionist, afterall), but I’m afraid that it’s just too different from the other images and that it would be distracting rather than helpful. I’ve gotten a couple opinions on it so far, and people seem to like it, but I’m not entirely convinced. I’ll ask when I have class tomorrow morning (today?). I never quite know how far to go with things that could be seen as flaws. Dust and scratches on negatives when printing B&W or color can be interesting when used in the right application, but when does it become too much? When is it cliche?

The last image, of the truck, needs to be printed a lot darker. It was really strange when I was developing this image because all of the detail just washed away. I don’t know if it was an error on my part, in the developing, or if it’s just something about the negative that can’t be helped. Again, I’m going back and forth on this image too, because I like the slightly faded quality. Part of me just wants to print it darker to see what it would look like if I actually had a good print of it. At least then I’d be able to choose whether or not I wanted it to be faded as opposed to just picking the faded one because it’s the only one I have.

All of these Americana images are going to be shown inconjunction with the collage prints that I’m making about my family. I might arrange them in dyptichs, but there wouldn’t be significant connections between the two images, so I don’t know how relavant it would be. This project is turning out to be a lot more personal than I imagined. I don’t have a problem with putting myself out there, but since I’m going to use all of these images in my solo show (a show that my parents have the potential to see), I don’t know if my parents would be bothered by it. …I can’t really fathom why they would, but I don’t want to step on any toes or anything of the sort. I’m going to persist with it because it’s important to me.

The red print. Which isn’t really that red anymore. But I plan on staying in that color family for this print anyways. Today I added the second part of the “mountains” and the ground plane.

A detail of the red print. The lighter color is actually a layer of screenprinting for another print. I decided to cut back on the “edition” size, so all of the extras just went towards another print. It looks pretty interesting with the paint over it.

This has nothing to do with schoolwork whatsoever. I forget how much I enjoy painting when I haven’t done it in so long. It feels good. Very direct. I’m pretty much done with these, I’m going to put a clear varnish over them. Shiny.

And some photos I uploaded on flickr of the Dolphin building:

A view of the letterpress room and the many cases of type.

The big Vandercook press

Screenprinting exposure table (sorry ’bout the blur). All those lightbulbs…

Surprise surprise, I’m going to do the dishes because I’ve been in my room for way too long.

I’m glad no one reads this, because I just can’t stop babbling about how much I should get done vs. how much I actually get done. This blog is just as much a chronicle of my mental unstability as it is about my artwork. I constantly feel the need to justify my actions. Such as now – I am still in bed at 1.40pm on a Saturday because it is 36 degrees outside and very lightly snowing. My plan for the day is to make it over to the school store, buy more paper (haha) and maybe, just maybe, stop by the Dolphin building and get a couple more layers on my current print (which I will now be referring to as the red print. It’s getting confusing without any titles.). I wonder if that part will actually happen…

Anyways, I’m off to finish my lunch

A very frustrating day in the studio.

One of the reasons why I love screenprinting is that it works with my impatience. I can get a new screen cleared and re-exposed in less than an hour. Lithography was very trying because of all the waiting I had to do (that and the fact that I rarely felt like I had a grasp on what I had to do to get everything working properly…so many variables!). I mean, graining a stone for around an hour? And then working on the drawing for around the same time if not more? Sometimes I just want to go in to the Dolphin building and print and print soon.

Screenprinting really tried my patience today. The power washer is messed up for some reason (not my fault, by the time I got there, it was already weird) and even after Kyle fixed it, it went back to its state of improper function. I spent three hours trying to wash out my screens and get a decent image exposed. I really don’t have much patience, so that whole experience was beyond irritating. It’s not like the prints I’m working on are very precise, so technically I don’t have to be very nit-picky when it comes to how things turn out when I pull a print. I’ve been working over everything by hand after almost every layer anyways. But I’m more concerned about my screen being permenantly fucked up than anything else. Either way, I’m going back tomorrow to wrestle with these unruly screens again.

I’m just about done with one of my prints (the one that I’ve been posting pictures of). It throws me off a little to have such different prints within the edition because I feel that some of the prints could be considered done right now, and others could stand a few more layers. I’m not ruling out the possibility of working on specific prints (perhaps drawing directly on them, collaging, etc), I think I just need to wait and see how I like them. Usually my artwork turns out better if I don’t rush into it. Very hard to do at this point, as I feel like I have so little time anyway.

At this point I’m debating on what I should do tomorrow. Should I wake up early and go directly to Dolphin and get a couple more layers cranked out on the current print? I almost feel like I should talk to Nick about the halo problem I’m having. I also feel like I should work on a background and more transparencies for the other prints that I need to have done. I can’t figure out which would be better – a little bit of progress on many of my prints or being almost done with one print… Maybe I should just go with Tyler to White Marsh so I can buy more ink jet transparencies (for Alt. Process) and then work on the prints or maybe just work on cyanotype stuff. I’m planning this out too much, aren’t I? Man, I wish I knew how to relax about these things.

Pictures later, when I’m not so spazzy.

Writing about my progress is much harder than actually working.

I’ve gotten a lot done since I last posted. I got better, mainly, which upped productivity quite a lot (I’m really restless most of the time and I’m really lousy at having to stay in bed when I’m sick). I’ve got a concrete plan worked out for my Advanced Printmaking class and a lot of transparencies made. Obviously it’s not as much as I would like to get done, but it never is and I think I need to realize that I set unrealistically high goals for myself. I need to focus on working towards goals that I can actually accomplish in the alloted time instead of freaking out about how I’m not getting enough done. (I do a lot of that, if that wasn’t already apparent.)

In terms of photography, I’m getting into the swing of things. I know what I need to do now to get work done for Alternative Process in a timely manner. I’m making really nice negatives (large ones too!) out of inkjet transparencies. They’re all tiled which is working really well with the collage aesthetic I have going. I’m getting ready to try some negatives that aren’t collaged and I’m excited to see how those turn out. In my mind, it’s kind of like a Starn interpretation (like the image on the cover of this book), but probably less apparent that it’s all pieced together. I’m a little bit apprehensive that it’s going to look sloppy and I’m wondering if I should just push the pieced together look even more to make it apparent that that’s what I want it to look like. I guess I won’t know until I see it.

One of the prints that I worked on last week. What you see in purple is part of the watercolor halftone I had up a while ago. I ended up sanding over parts of it to make it blend in a little bit better. I think I might go lighter with the purple for the next two prints.

A close up of the halftone.

The background is different on these two prints, but other than that, they have the same images. I really don’t know how to “edition” these prints, if you can even call it that. They’re basically all unique prints…

A close up of the texture.

I haven’t printed the halftone layer on this one yet, but even without it, this one is my favorite. I like the subtlety that the toned paper gives it. I put a lighter wash of gesso on this one (in contrast to the heavy application on the white one). I think the halftone layer really needs to be light on this particular print.

A detail of the large halftone background texture.

No new pictures yet, I’m really bad about that.